As it’s the end-of-year, please indulge my reminiscing about some of our events in central London over the last twelve months. We held a Dinner in January at Tredwells in Covent Garden. This is a restaurant in the Marcus Wareing group, focusing on contemporary British produce, whose Chef Patron is Chantelle Nicholson. The four courses were each matched by appropriate …
IWFS LONDON BLOG November 2019
IWFS Corney & Barrow Wine Tasting and Dinner London Branch’s AGM was held at Corney & Barrow. Corney & Barrow was founded by Edward Bland Corney in London in 1780. Their headquarters, where we went, is now an elegant converted customs house near Tower Hill. The AGM took up a very small part of the evening, however, as we also …
IWFS LONDON BLOG October 2019
Two contrasting tastings held within a week of each other, each of nine wines, each chosen and led by a member of London Branch, illustrate the variety of the types of tastings on our programme. The first was of a selection of red Bordeaux from the 1970s, led by Jeffrey Benson. Would they still be enjoyable to drink, long after …
IWFS LONDON BLOG September 2019
We happily tried eight white and five red Japanese wines at a novel wine tasting event organised and led by Christopher Davenport-Jones this month. The wines were from a variety of grapes and from different producers. Most of them are not available for us to buy in the UK. We learned that Japanese wine producers are making a wide range …
IWFS LONDON BLOG August 2019
A recent interesting tasting held by London Branch was of fine wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We tasted nine wines; vintages from 1955 to 2014. We were able to compare a 1993 and a 1996 from Château de Beaucastel, one of the finest estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Another star wine was the 2004 Clos des Papes from another top estate, a complex and …
IWFS LONDON WINE BLOG July 2019
Two of this month’s tastings were of mature fine wines, at the Naval Club, Mayfair, both led by Jeffrey Benson, of wines from his cellars. One was of Beerenauslese and Eiswein special sweet white wines, the youngest from 1982 and the oldest from 1971. We tasted six Beerenauslese wines from Germany, and one Beerenauslese and one Eiswein from Austria. Both …
IWFS LONDON WINE BLOG June 2019
Last month we were fortunate in having a second tasting of mature Bordeaux wines from the 2005 vintage. This vintage is regarded as the best so far this century – with prices to match. The growing season in 2005 was exceptionally long, hot and dry, yet with just enough necessary moisture. There was no drought. Indeed there was a welcome …
IWFS LONDON WINE BLOG May 2019
Early in May we enjoyed a tasting of wines from Gérard Bertrand, tutored by François Pages, the export manager. Gérard Bertrand was a professional rugby union player who retired to take over the Corbières family estate after his father died. He expanded the business, acquired new estates, and developed biodynamic methods. He now owns or manages 15 estates, all in …
IWFS LONDON WINE BLOG April 2019
One tasting this time: the range of champagnes made by the Serge Mathieu champagne house, one of the Côte des Bar’s leading small growers and producers, renowned for extremely fine champagne. Such an interesting tasting, kindly hosted by Christopher and Marigold Davenport Jones at their home. We first had the unusual opportunity of tasting examples of the appellation Coteaux …
IWFS London Blog March 2019
Three contrasting occasions in February illustrate the admirable variety of wine and food events we offer. Moldovan wines The first was a tasting of a wide selection of wines from Moldova, including those made from local grapes Feteasca and Rara Neagra, as well as those from more familiar grapes such as Tempranillo and Chardonnay. I didn’t know that Moldova has …